- A bill in North Carolina’s state legislature would create a statewide bike registry with an annual $10 fee.
- Revenue would go toward cycling projects, but riders who don’t register would face a $25 fine.
- Cycling advocates in the state are lobbying against the bill.
North Carolina is considering a bill that would create a mandatory statewide bike registry—and punish cyclists who fail to comply.
The bill, introduced by state Rep. Jeffrey Elmore, would impose an annual $10 registration fee on each bike that cyclists use on public roads, with the revenue going toward “bicycle safety-related projects.” It also states that cyclists would receive registration plates “suitably sized for a bicycle” and that failure to register a bike would carry a $25 fine.
Yet cycling advocates in North Carolina and nationwide have come out against the proposed registry, pointing to the failures of similar programs in cities like Seattle, Toronto, and San Jose.
“We appreciate the need to raise revenue in general for transportation, but history has proven that an annual bicycle registration fee is not an effective way to do it,” said Steven Goodridge, a board member of statewide advocacy group BikeWalkNC.
Goodridge helped produce a 2016 state-ordered bike safety report that recommended against requiring cyclists to carry specific IDs. “It’s very difficult to raise more revenue than it costs to administer the program, and if you do get the fee high enough to cover costs, it becomes very regressive,” he said.
Advocates are especially concerned about the registry’s effect on low-income cyclists, both due to the fee acting as a possible deterrent, as well as the potentially negative interactions between riders and law enforcement.
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“It will do more harm than good,” said Kelly Cascaden, executive director of A Bike for Every Child, a Wilmington non-profit that distributes refurbished bikes to community members in need. “[We work] to encourage cycling as a mode of transportation for youth and young adults, and this bill would discourage them and put a big burden on organizations like ours to find the funds to assist them with the registration process.
“We would absolutely love better bicycle infrastructure in North Carolina, but this is not the way to do it,” Cascaden said.
Bicycling could find no evidence of an efficacy assessment done in support of the bill. Elmore’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Advocates also frame the bill as a response to inaccurate and age-old stereotypes—namely, that cyclists don’t pay their fair share in taxes.
“We see bills like this all the time,” said Morgan Lommele, director of state and local policy at the national advocacy group People for Bikes. “It’s a classic argument that bicyclists always deal with, and just kind of the way it works if someone doesn’t cycle.”
Elmore introduced the bill by request, and the Wilkes Journal-Patriot reports that a constituent critical of cyclists in the past had asked the legislator to push for a law requiring cyclists to carry specific ID. Terry Lansdell, BikeWalkNC’s executive director, said Elmore has been a supporter of safe cycling legislation in the past, but that he was disappointed to learn the bill included nothing on safety or education.
The bill must pass several committees before it reaches the floor, leaving advocates plenty of time to speak up. But Lansdell said lobbying against the bill will take considerable time, effort, and resources.
“It’s a waste of time and shows that the representative that is putting this forward is very uneducated when it comes to cycling,” said Kinga Rapacz, a Raleigh cyclist. “Bike safety starts with comprehensive education and awareness, including motor vehicle drivers and cyclists alike.”
Jacob joined Runner’s World and Bicycling as an editorial fellow after graduating from Northwestern University in 2018, where he studied journalism. His work focuses mainly on news and service pieces for both audiences, with the occasional foray into longer feature work and product reviews. He especially loves to highlight the journeys of unique runners and riders doing amazing things in their communities.
